Musculoskeletal Biomechanics: Diagnosis and Treatment

The Mézières Method as a systemic biomechanical model for reading the body

A therapeutic discipline based on musculoskeletal biomechanics and the laws of physics.
It goes far beyond traditional postural techniques: it’s an advanced clinical model to treat chronic, recurrent, and complex dysfunctions.

“The body is not something to be corrected.
It’s something to be listened to, freed, and reorganized.”

👉 Discover the most complete and scientifically grounded Mézières training
📍 38 hours – 100% online – Includes clinical demonstrations and systemic analysis
🎥 Lifetime access to all content, professionally filmed for maximum clarity and immersion

The Mézières Method is not only a postural technique.
It is a systemic clinical model based on biomechanics and physics.

But it’s also a way of being in front of the body: slower, deeper, more coherent.
It does not impose. It listens. It does not force. It liberates.

It views the human body as a complex system, where muscular shortening alters the equilibrium of forces, causes joint misalignment, and reshapes morphology.

It doesn’t just treat pain: it identifies and addresses the underlying causes of dysfunction, guiding the body toward stable and efficient reorganization.

The Mézières approach integrates evidence-based clinical reasoning with the laws of physics, vectorial logic, and systemic adaptation.

It’s for clinicians who want to understand the body beyond segments and symptoms — and who want to make a real difference in patient outcomes.

🔹 1. Systemic and Interdependent Reading of the Body

The body is a complex system where no adaptation is ever isolated.
Each local change leads to a compensatory global reorganization.
This is why correcting posture makes no sense unless we understand the forces that created it.

🔹 2. Vectorial Analysis of Muscular Shortenings

Connective tissue retraction creates compressive forces that disorganize and deform the body over time.
The goal is not to “relax” or “stretch” generally, but to identify and treat the primary shortening vectors — the ones that deform morphology and block the system.

🔹 3. Analysis of Dynamic Patterns and Emergent Motor Strategies

When in motion, the body compensates using substitute muscle chains.
Often, monoarticular muscles are inhibited, while myofascial chains with high entropic output dominate.
Recognizing these patterns helps distinguish real deficits from their compensations.

The Mézières Method teaches you how to look beyond the symptom, to uncover the hidden logic behind compensations,
and to treat what needs to be released — not controlled.

The Mézières Method is not based on standard exercises or fixed postures.
It relies on a precise analysis of the muscular forces that shape the body’s structure over time.

The clinical goals are to:

🧭 Identify primary muscular shortening vectors — the ones that distort joint alignment and create compressive forces.

🔍 Distinguish between primary and secondary shortenings, especially when the cause lies outside the muscular system (e.g. visceral, skeletal, stomatognathic origins).

⚖️ Restore morphological and articular balance, reducing the resistant forces that block functional movement.

🔓 Unlock inhibited muscular forces hidden by chronic compensation patterns, so the system can regain efficiency, adaptability, and dynamic coherence.

📌 You don’t treat what is stiff —
You treat what made it stiff.

Treatment is performed through isometric contractions in maximum physiological (or relative) elongation, guided by diaphragmatic breathing, proprioceptive control, and perceptual interaction with the therapist.

Symptom: persistent knee pain
Clinical question: is this a local issue or a referred dysfunction?

🦵 Local hypothesis

If the cause is local, you may observe:

• Clear axial deviation causing abnormal joint contact

• Muscular imbalance affecting joint biomechanics

🔄 Referred hypothesis (more frequent in chronic cases)

In the absence of local findings, systemic analysis is essential:

• According to dermatomal maps and peripheral innervation, the knees are connected to L3 and L4

• Treating myofascial retractions at the lumbar level often leads to immediate pain relief

🧩 Secondary origin (higher-level dysfunction)

Lumbar dysfunctions can themselves be secondary to:

• Cervical instability

• Visceral imbalances (e.g., intestinal or urogenital)

• Or more complex systemic patterns

✅ Clinical Conclusion

In the Mézières model, resolution comes not from treating the symptom directly,
but from identifying and addressing the primary vector causing systemic disorganization.

The approach is systemic, logical, and clinically verifiable.

The Mézières Method operates at the margins of equilibrium —
where the muscular system escapes its adaptive rigidity to regain efficiency, coherence, and freedom.

It’s not about imposing a “correct” posture.
It’s about creating the conditions for the body to release its compensatory patterns
and spontaneously reorganize into a more functional structure.

This zone of controlled instability — the edge of chaos — is where the system finds new solutions:
✔ more efficient motor strategies
✔ improved proprioceptive orientation
✔ a more harmonious distribution of forces

Every body tells a story —
a story of adaptations, protective patterns, and invisible survival strategies.
Learning to read that story is not just a clinical skill:
it's an act of attention, precision, and respect.

“When I started the course, I thought I was going to learn a more refined postural technique.
Instead, I changed the way I think.”

“I began to see how body segments relate to each other, how certain forces disorganize the body over time, and how symptom relief isn’t enough.
After just a few sessions, even my patients noticed the difference.
Now, when I treat scoliosis or chronic low back pain, I know where to look — and why.”

— Martina B., 28 – Physiotherapist

The Mézières Method offers far more than a technique —
it transforms the way you observe, think, and treat the human body.

✔ You stop trying to correct the form —
and start investigating the forces that shaped it.

✔ You don’t just treat the symptom —
you intervene on the system that produced it.

✔ You don’t apply predefined sequences —
you formulate biomechanical hypotheses and verify them in real time.

✔ You don’t work on individual muscles —
you work on interdependent vectors that alter morphology and disrupt function.

Comprehensive, rigorous, and systemic training

This course doesn't teach you a set of exercises —
it gives you the tools to analyze and treat the body as a physical, interdependent system, governed by biomechanical laws and adaptive logic.

The training is based on:

🔹 Vectorial analysis of muscular forces responsible for morphological disorganization

🔹 Understanding compensatory motor patterns, which often mask the true dysfunction

🔹 Therapeutic use of isometric contractions in maximum elongation, guided by diaphragmatic breathing and proprioceptive control

You won’t work with predefined routines or protocols.
You’ll develop the clinical ability to observe, interpret, and intervene precisely on the myofascial system.

🎯 This is not about learning a technique.
It’s about adopting a scientific model of clinical reasoning that reshapes your entire therapeutic practice.

All treatment techniques in this course are demonstrated by the instructor on a male physiotherapist model, filmed by a professional crew to ensure maximum clarity, precision, and clinical relevance.

🎥 Each shot is designed to highlight the biomechanics involved —
from hand placement to the direction of the applied vector forces.

📌 The images you see on this page (visible on desktop only) show treatment examples with a female model.
These were taken separately for illustrative purposes, to give you a visual preview of the Mézières approach and spark your curiosity.

👁‍🗨 In the online course, you observe each technique as if you were in the room — right next to the instructor.

👉 The Mézières Method is learned through the body — but also through the eyes, the breath, and the listening.
This course offers the same didactic clarity and scientific consistency as in-person training, with the freedom to study anytime, anywhere.

Two perspectives, one shared vision

The Mézières online course is taught by highly experienced clinicians and educators, both of whom trained directly with Françoise Mézières and have played a key role in refining and expanding the method through clinical application and scientific rigor.

🔹 Mauro Lastrico, PT

Director of Education – AIFiMM
Author of Musculoskeletal Biomechanics and the Mézières Method

Mauro Lastrico is a physiotherapist with over 35 years of experience and one of the leading figures in the Mézières Method in Europe. He trained directly with Françoise Mézières in Paris in the late 1980s and has dedicated his career to applying, teaching, and developing the method.

He is recognized for having systematized the Mézières Method within a scientific and biomechanical framework, integrating it with modern clinical reasoning and the principles of evidence-based medicine. His approach emphasizes vectorial muscle analysis, systemic biomechanics, and the restoration of morphological balance.

Mauro is the founder and president of AIFiMM (Italian Association of Mézières Physiotherapists) and has been responsible for professional training in the Mézières Method for over 25 years. He also taught for a decade at the Postgraduate Master’s in Clinical Posturology at the University of Pisa.

In this online course, he leads every session, guiding participants through the full clinical reasoning and technical application of the method.

🔹 Laura Manni, PT

Senior Instructor – AIFiMM
Co-developer of Mézières clinical training programs

Laura Manni is a senior physiotherapist and teacher with deep expertise in the Mézières Method. She trained extensively in global therapeutic approaches in France before studying directly with Françoise Mézières in Paris.

She is known for her ability to translate complex biomechanical concepts into clear, clinical strategies, helping participants connect theory and practice. Her teaching integrates neurovegetative balance, proprioceptive training, and perceptual awareness — all core components of the original Mézières vision.

Laura has played a key role in developing training programs for Mézières therapists across Italy and is a founding member of the Mézières Center in Rome.
She brings a highly personal, rigorous, and clinically oriented perspective to the teaching team.

Theoretical foundations and clinical framework of the Mézières Method

The Mézières Method is built on a solid scientific foundation that combines systemic biomechanics, applied physics, and complex clinical reasoning.

To deepen your understanding of the core principles behind the AIFiMM training, here are selected articles and summaries authored by the course instructors and published on our platform:

🔬 The Mézières Method as a Systemic Biomechanical Model
A clinical rationalization based on muscular vectors, adaptation mechanisms, and three-dimensional body mapping.
👉 Read article

🔬 Biomechanics of Muscle Shortening Causes
An analysis of the connective, neuromuscular, and functional factors behind myofascial retraction and articular compression.
👉 Read article

🔬 Postural Dysfunction in a Psychosomatic, Neurophysiological, and Biomechanical Model
An integrated framework for interpreting morphological and functional imbalances.
👉 Read article

🧠 Summary of Françoise Mézières’ Writings
A curated overview of the core concepts developed by Mézières:
the body as an interdependent system, shape as a product of dominant forces, and compensation as a survival strategy.
👉 Read summary

📖 👉 See all published articles

Clinical tools to assess and treat the muscular system as a complex structure

Before you learn how to treat, you’ll learn how to see differently.
To read the body as a dynamic map, where every force leaves a trace — and every restriction reveals a lost direction.

Throughout the course, you will develop:

🔹 A vectorial biomechanical approach to identify muscular shortenings that disorganize joint alignment and compress the spine

🔹 The ability to analyze dynamic compensation patterns, distinguishing between substituted and substituting muscles

🔹 The foundations of differential diagnosis between primary and secondary shortenings — including those of visceral, stomatognathic, skeletal, or oculomotor origin

🔹 The therapeutic use of isometric contractions in maximal physiological (or relative) elongation, guided by diaphragmatic breathing and proprioceptive control

🔹 A new perceptual and observational sensitivity, essential for guiding the body toward more adaptive and efficient function

📌 You’ll learn to treat not just the symptom —
but the system that produced it.

This method blends biomechanical logic, therapeutic precision, and a systemic vision of the human body.

Treating systemic biomechanical causes in chronic, recurrent, and complex cases

The Mézières Method is particularly effective when symptoms are sustained by myofascial retractions, joint compressions, or muscular vector disorganization.

In these cases, symptom-focused or segmental approaches often fail.
Mézières acts on the forces that shape the body over time, restoring balance, function, and stable symptom resolution.

✅ Spinal Dysfunction

• Functional and structural scoliosis

• Hyperlordosis, kyphotic posture, thoracic rigidity

• Chronic low back pain, sciatica, recurring cervical pain

• Disc compression, radiculopathies

👉 Works along the cranio-sacral axis to reduce compressive forces and reorganize spinal curves.

✅ Peripheral Joint Disorders

• Osteoarthritis, hip and knee degeneration (coxarthrosis, gonarthrosis)

• Shoulder impingement syndromes, glenohumeral instability

• Temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD)

👉 Addresses disorganized muscular chains that destabilize joints and produce structural overloads.

✅ Chronic Compensation & Muscular Imbalance

• Chronic neck tension, thoracic/lumbar stiffness, torticollis

• Recurrent myalgias, asymmetric hypertonia

• Post-traumatic adaptations, long-term immobilization effects

👉 Aims to release long-standing compensations and restore efficiency to inhibited areas.

✅ Morphological Alterations

• Valgus/varus knee, flat or hollow foot

• Hallux valgus, hammer toes

• Pelvic asymmetries, leg length discrepancies, structural scoliosis

👉 Targets muscular vectors that deform body shape and disrupt force distribution across the kinetic chain.

This course is designed for licensed healthcare professionals involved in musculoskeletal care, as well as students enrolled in clinical training programs.

It is particularly suited for:

• Physiotherapists (PTs)

• Physicians (all medical specialties)

• Osteopaths

• Manual therapists and rehabilitation professionals

• Chiropractors (where recognized as healthcare providers)

• Students enrolled in physiotherapy or related clinical degrees

📌 No prior experience with the Mézières Method is required.
You will be guided step by step through its theoretical foundations, clinical applications, and systemic logic.

🎓 For students and early-career clinicians, this course offers an opportunity to deepen your understanding of biomechanics and clinical reasoning, with a systemic and scientifically grounded model.

✅ Please note: this course is intended for healthcare professionals and clinical trainees only.
It is not open to fitness or wellness practitioners without a recognized clinical background.

The course is structured into 18 modules, totaling 38 hours of advanced clinical training.

You will have access to:

• 🎓 Video lectures on systemic musculoskeletal biomechanics, vector analysis, and clinical reasoning

• 👐 Practical demonstrations, including morphological assessment, postural correction, and guided isometric techniques

• 📄 Downloadable resources, such as illustrated handouts, scientific articles, and technical summaries

• 💬 Instructor chat for direct questions and clinical support

• 🔁 12-month unlimited access, with the freedom to rewatch any lesson at any time

🧠 Each module recreates the experience of an in-person training session, combining scientific depth, clinical logic, and visual clarity.
The content follows a progressive structure, integrating theory and practice throughout the course.

✅ After completing all lessons, you can request your Certificate of Completion by email.

You can preview a complete video from the lumbar spine module (over 2 hours) to get a real sense of:
✔ the teaching approach
✔ the clinical level
✔ the video quality
➡ Click the video below to watch the lesson.

The course is 100% asynchronous — no fixed schedules, no deadlines.
You can study independently, at your own pace, and return to each topic whenever you need.

Why this format works:

• 🎥 Professional video production recreates the feeling of being in the classroom

• 🔁 Replay every lesson as needed, without limits

• 💬 Open chat lets you ask questions and share insights with instructors and peers

➡ This is not just a video course.
It’s a comprehensive clinical training program available anytime, from anywhere.

💶 Course Fee, Certification, and Enrollment

💰 Price: €610 (VAT included)
✔ Immediate access upon payment
✔ 12-month unlimited access
✔ No hidden fees or renewals

💳 Flexible Payment Options

• One-time payment: €610

• 2 monthly installments: €305/month

• 4 monthly installments: €152.50/month

✔ No interest or extra charges
✔ Secure payments via Stripe
✔ Access begins immediately after the first payment

📌 By choosing an installment plan, you agree to complete the total payment.
Access may be suspended if a payment fails.

After finishing all video modules, you may request the official AIFiMM Certificate of Completion, confirming 38 hours of clinical training in systemic musculoskeletal biomechanics and the Mézières Method.

🎓 Recognition

✔ The certificate can be added to your CPD portfolio, depending on your country or institution
✔ This course does not provide CEUs or CME credits, but offers high-level training for professionals in musculoskeletal rehabilitation
✔ AIFiMM is officially recognized by the Italian Ministry of Health as a national provider of continuing medical education
👉 Provider ECM code: 1701

📧 To request your certificate, email: info@aifimm.it

👥 Who can enroll in this course?

This course is open to licensed healthcare professionals (physiotherapists, physicians, osteopaths, chiropractors, rehabilitation specialists, etc.) as well as students enrolled in clinical degree programs.
It is not intended for fitness or wellness professionals without formal clinical training.

🎓 Do I need prior knowledge of the Mézières Method?

No. The course provides all theoretical foundations, biomechanical principles, and clinical demonstrations needed to begin using the method.
You will be guided step by step, from fundamental concepts to complex clinical reasoning.

🌍 In what language is the course delivered?

The course was originally recorded in Italian and has been professionally dubbed into English by native voice actors.
All video lessons feature clear and accurate medical translation, ensuring smooth and immersive learning.
Subtitles are not available.

🧾 Is a certificate issued?

Yes. Once you have completed all 18 video modules, you may request your Certificate of Completion via email.
The certificate confirms 38 hours of advanced clinical training in musculoskeletal biomechanics and the Mézières Method.

🎓 Does the course provide CEUs or CME credits?

No. This course does not provide formal continuing education units (CEUs) or CME credits.
However, it is designed as high-level scientific training and may be included in your CPD portfolio, depending on your country or institution.

💻 How long will I have access to the course?

You will have 12 months of unlimited access to all course content, starting from the date of enrollment.
You can pause, resume, and replay any lesson at any time during this period.

💬 Can I ask questions during the course?

Yes. You’ll have access to a course chat, where you can ask questions and receive support directly from the instructors.

📅 Are there live sessions or deadlines?

No. The course is fully asynchronous — there are no scheduled events or deadlines.
You can study entirely at your own pace.

📦 What materials are included?

• All video modules (theory + demonstrations)

• Illustrated handouts and downloadable summaries

• Access to selected scientific articles

• Course chat with instructor support

🛒 How do I enroll and start the course?

You can enroll directly on this page.
Once payment is complete (either in full or first installment), you’ll receive immediate access to the full course platform.

Our students come from diverse clinical backgrounds — physiotherapy, medicine, osteopathy — and share a common goal: to deepen their understanding of the musculoskeletal system through a systemic, biomechanical model.

Here’s what one of them had to say:

“I’ve just completed the Mézières online course and I want to sincerely thank and congratulate you!

Despite being a pre-recorded course, Mauro and Laura’s teaching made me feel like I was in a live classroom. Their energy and clarity are truly engaging.

As a medical doctor with a strong background in anatomy and orthopedics, I found the course both stimulating and enlightening. It even made me go back and reread my physics textbooks!

The scientific level is excellent — especially for someone unfamiliar with the Mézières Method. And the support team was outstanding: always responsive and helpful.

I’ll definitely recommend your school to colleagues — osteopaths, physiatrists, and physiotherapists — who want to expand their clinical tools.

— Cristina Marastoni, MD
Specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation